We are mattimatti.
two Mattis living in different countries – Sweden (Malmö) and Germany (Berlin). We travel around the world playing music while asking ourselves, ”who are we?”. the answer seems to change just as our surroundings do. But the music stays with us and so does the friendship.
it is cliché that it’s hard to put a label on music. and to say it has almost become a cliche itself. But whole meaning of music is to listen to it and create your own world by it. to create one’s own world one needs space. space that is not interrupted by either style or defining categories. mattimatti is an attempt to step into that space creating music that is solely built on improvisation. our music is an invitation to places not yet known, where rhythmic, suggestive and meditative soundscapes meet the present moment.
music represents many things for us. first of all, it is in-sync with our friendship, when the relationship is stuck so is our music. our music is therapy. We need to be authentic with the music in order to have a real friendship and the other way around.
as friends and musicians we welcome the unexpected. this has lead us to places where we never would have ended up in if it weren’t for the music.
in that way, music and life walk hand in hand. if we dare to be real about it.
We are living in a world full of confusion when it comes to identity. it’s easy to loose yourself. all of a sudden you are standing there playing music but missing the music at the same time, or hanging out with your best friend while missing the friendship. We are trying to stay connected. it is a constant task. We lose it but then we find it again, just like everybody else. sometimes it ends up in music for the moment. sometimes it ends up in the shape of a record.
we met on the streets of Berlin in spring 2013 while one of us was playing on the streets. after we played the first time together, there was no question that we would travel a musical journey together from that day. mattimatti was initiated.
on our quest we began playing improvised tunes on sitar and hang on the street while travelling through Sweden and Germany. this lead us to be invited to numerous festivals all over Europe while constantly developing our music and sound. since then our set has added new instruments such as a drum kit with hang, African harps, sitar, guitar, harmonica, clarinet, hank drum and vocals on top of it extending the sound with a space echo. the long, intimate tunes that we are creating have an original structure and sound. there is a certain present resting in the music which is hard to describe but easy to experience if you listen to it.
our live concerts have been dubbed mythical, hypnotic, magic and epic.
traveling is our biggest influence on music. mattimatti are now both based in Berlin & Malmoe and work together with the contemporary circus, dance and music group „kollektiv knaster“.